Over 30 fashion experts have revealed the official definition of ‘smart casual’ for employees. The research, collated by online fashion retailer Hidepark, looked at the most common terms used to describe ‘smart casual’ from fashion bloggers, personal stylists and clothing brand designers to understand what smart-casual looks like.
According to Google, the phrase “what is smart casual” has over 1,900 searches a month in the UK, indicative of its complex nature. In addition to this, research shows that 90% of office workers now only wear smart casual, making it even more relevant to the modern adult.
The responses were analysed, with over 3,000 words run through Google’s Natural Language processing tool which analyses the text, to extract the most commonly used terms providing a clear picture of what relates to ‘smart casual’.
According to the research, a smart-casual wardrobe for female employees should include the following items:
- Mid-length dress
- Fitted jeans
- Tailored blazer
- Ankle boots
- Flat shoes
- Plain coloured top
- White trainers
- Midi skirt
- Jewellery
- Lace designs
Heels appeared frequently in the dataset, however, the fashion experts only considered them necessary if the person wished to “elevate their look” beyond smart casual.
The top 10 smart-casual clothing items for male staff members, in order of prominence in the expert responses, were as follows:
- Dark jeans
- Plain shirt
- Tailored jacket
- Polished shoes
- Non-patterned trousers
- Suede Loafers
- Pressed chinos
- White trainers
- Suede boots
- Plain t-shirts
Responses also highlighted what clothing choices smart casual should not contain for both men and women:
- Bold colours
- Ripped clothing
- Formal suits
- Heels
- Ties
- Creased clothing
- Worn-looking trainers
- Cropped tops
- Boyfriend jeans
- Slogan t-shirts
The research also looked at the sentiment of fashion choices relating to ‘smart
casual’ and has revealed items that garnered the most negative reactions. These were clothes that were ‘not ironed’, ‘filthy trainers’, ‘scruffy t-shirts’ and ‘ripped jeans’.
Andy Bojko, MD of Hidepark, who undertook the research, said: “Smart casual can be a terrifying phrase for some, and we realised that there had not been a collective decision on what this looks like, so we thought we’d find out ourselves. We’re not surprised to see jeans and tailored tops feature so prominently as this is what comes to mind for most in a relaxed office, but we didn’t expect trainers to be so universally accepted. HR professionals should utilise this data to understand if their workplace dress code is far from the reality of 2019 employee’s expectations.”
One of the experts involved in the research Claire Lopez, personal stylist and shopping consultant, discussed the dress code further:
“The term ‘smart casual’ used to be synonymous with dress-down Fridays but as dress codes have changed and relaxed, it actually now encompasses a vast swathe of what a lot of people wear on a daily basis. It can often seem as if it is the tricky middle ground that is hard to nail, but if you think of it as the key, versatile pieces that form the building blocks of your wardrobe and that can be dressed up or down, then you are on the right track.”
More expert opinion, the comprehensive text and full sentiment analysis of the research can be found here.